Low Expectations Make for a Happy Audience

Inasmuch as members of the press were waiting for that “uh-oh” moment from the Democratic contenders this morning during the debate at Drake University in Des Moines, participants in the audience were simply expecting more of the same.

“We’ve watched most of the debates,” said John Edwards supporter Theresa Navin of Winterset. “We’ve also seen most of the candidates as they’ve traveled through our community. They all have a good message.”

Her husband, Pat, a member of Teamsters Local 90, agreed with his wife and added, “This is probably going to be a repeat of what we’ve already heard.”

Brad Hudson of Ankeny came into the debate undecided and is interested to know if anything will be said to change his mind. “I’m with the teachers’ association, so I really want to hear about education. I want to know about No Child Left Behind and hear the details of what the candidates plan to do to make it work.”

Fourth-grade teacher Linda Melson of Council Bluffs is also undecided and interested in hearing the candidates discuss education. “More than anything, I just want them to discuss education — just talk about it,” she said. “There really hasn’t been a great deal of discussion so far on education.”

Drake University political science professor Rachel Caufield said she expected to see more division and wedges self-placed by the candidates.

“I’m expecting to see the front-runners try to position themselves,” she said. “I also expect to see the ‘second tier’ candidates — that is, [Chris] Dodd, [Joe] Biden and [Bill] Richardson — try to break through to the next level.”

All those interviewed received at least a portion of what they’d wanted and expected — although, at the end of the program, no one had an epiphany or change of heart.

“I like [Dennis] Kucinich even more after seeing him today,” said Theresa Navin. “All of the people on the stage need someone like him to keep them on their toes.”

Nonetheless, she was quick to add, “But Edwards is still my number one.”

Although Pat Navin said he’d like to see the field narrowed, he wasn’t ready to take the plunge himself.

“They are all very good,” he said. “But my opinion hasn’t changed based on what I saw and heard here this morning.”

Melson thinks she may have some idea of where she’s going, but she’s not positive.

“I was really pleased that we finally got to have a conversation about education,” she said. “And… there were some things that were said that are helping me to get a clearer picture.”

While also pleased to hear the questions regarding education, Hudson still maintained a foggy picture.

“On the merit pay question, I think this most had good ideas, but I thought [Barack] Obama was fumbling,” he said. “All of America wants great teachers. Who would get to decide who gets the great teachers and who gets the average teachers?”

Caufield, who was also undecided prior to the event, said she didn’t have any major breakthroughs based on what she saw.

“I think Edwards and Obama did what they needed to do,” she said. “They should be very proud of their performance.”

Des Moines Register political journalist David Yepsen, who helped moderate the event, said he was pleased with the debate.

“The most remarkable thing I heard was that we finally got to get into some of these issues that hadn’t already been discussed — like education,” he said. “We went with the merit pay question because instead of No Child Left Behind because there are some real differences there… so that we could hear some differences.”